The Dow marked its longest win streak in more than a year Thursday, after the European Central Bank’s announced fresh stimulus measures, including an interest-rate cut that moved a deposit rate further into negative territory, raising hopes that the Federal Reserve may also enact easy-money policies next month.

The market had been on an uptrend early in the day following reports suggesting that U.S. and China trade aggressions continued to soften ahead of meeting next month.

How are the major benchmarks performing?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.14%
rose 45.41 points, or 0.2%, to close at 27,182.45, notching a seventh advance and the longest series of gains for the blue-chip index since an eight-session rally ended May 14, 2018, according to FactSet data. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index
SPX, -0.07%
added 8.64 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 3,009.57, while the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, -0.22%
advanced 24.79 points, or 0.3%, to end at 8,194.47.

All three benchmarks ended the day off their best levels as market’s pulled back as the index’s came within striking distance of recent closing highs.

Thursday’s action left the Dow and S&P just about 0.7% and 0.5% from their respective record closes, while the Nasdaq ended the day 1.6% from its all-time closing high.

The news followed tweets by President Trump Wednesday announcing he would delay a tariff hike —from 25% to 30%—that was scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, until Oct. 15., “as a gesture of goodwill.”

A separate report in The Wall Street Journal cited Chinese officials, who are looking to narrow the scope of the negotiations to exclude national security issues, as it hopes to make progress on the tariff front. The moves come as American and Chinese representatives are slated to meet in early October to restart stalled trade negotiations and avert any further escalation of animosities between the economic superpowers.

No date has been set to begin the high-level trade discussions, but the latest olive branch did help to reflect a momentary softening of tensions between Beijing and Washington, which had rattled global economies, because an outright trade war could further weaken an already international economy.

“The S&P 500 has now fully retraced the August pullback, and in doing so has priced in a lasting U.S.-China trade truce and aggressive [global] central bank easing…and no more geopolitical surprises,” wrote Tom Essaye, president of the Sevens Report in a Thursday note to clients.

“Proof of that is evident in the lack of a rally despite the short tariff delay announcement,” he added. “At these levels, a trade “truce” (so no more tariffs) is mostly priced into stocks, just a delay won’t be a positive catalyst—the market already expects more.”

Earlier Thursday morning stocks rose on news the European Central Bank cut its deposit rate from -0.4% to -0.5%, while announcing it would restart open-ended purchasing of long-term government bonds at a pace of €20 billion a month in an effort to further reduce long-term interest rates. The bank said rates would remain at “present or lower levels” until the inflation outlook “robustly” converges with its target of just below 2%.

Investors were also watching new economic data which showed the number of Americans applying for new unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 to 204,000 during the week ended Sept. 7, below economists expectations of 213,000, according to a MarketWatch poll.

Which stocks were in focus?

Shares of Oracle Corp.
ORCL, -0.26%
were in focus after the technology company late Wednesday said co-CEO Mark Hurd was taking a leave of absence for health reasons, while announcing that fiscal first quarter revenue grew short of Wall Street estimates. Co-CEO Safra Catz and Chairman Larry Ellison will cover Hurd’s duties, the company said. Oracle shares fell Thursday morning. shares finished 4.3% lower.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc.
HTZ, +0.60%
stock rose 3.6% Thursday, after billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he increased his stake in the car rental company to 30.1% of the shares outstanding.

Shares of AT&T Inc.
T, -1.22%
fell 0.9%, after the telecom giant flagged low upgrade rates as a potential threat to revenue in the third quarter, while projecting WarnerMedia revenues to fall roughly $400 million, as “a number of second-half 2018 hit movies” poses challenges to year-over-year growth.

SmileDirectClub Inc.
SDC, +12.06%tumbled nearly 28% in its debut at as public company. The company, which sells clear teeth aligners, finished at $16.67 after pricing its initial public offering Wednesday afternoon at $23 apiece.

Company

Dow Jones Network

Intraday Data provided by FACTSET and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by FACTSET.
All quotes are in local exchange time.
Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only.
Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.